History YMMV / FireEmblemFates

* PeripheryDemographic: The game's demographic was largely targeted at mid-to-late teens in the West and Japan. Despite this, the game -- far moreso than almost every other ''Fire Emblem'' with the exception of ''Three Houses'', had a ''massive'' demographic of late-teen-to-adult young women that largely make up Tumblr, Archives Of Our Own and other such female-friendly fandoms of which the game's largest fandom profligates there. This is in part of the multitude of strong female characters, the CastFullOfPrettyBoys, and many female-oriented demographic appeals such as Jakob, Niles, Xander and Kaze being ''very'' popular S-Support options for a female Corrin. The game's official tie-in manga, ''Fire Emblem if: The Crown of Nibelung'', was even classified as a ''Main/Josei'' manga there.

* PeripheryFandom: The game's demographic was largely targeted at mid-to-late teens in the West and Japan. Despite this, the game -- far moreso than almost every other ''Fire Emblem'' with the exception of ''Three Houses'', had a ''massive'' demographic of late-teen-to-adult young women that largely make up Tumblr, Archives Of Our Own and other such female-friendly fandoms of which the game's largest fandom profligates there. This is in part of the multitude of strong female characters, the CastFullOfPrettyBoys, and many female-oriented demographic appeals such as Jakob, Niles, Xander and Kaze being ''very'' popular S-Support options for a female Corrin. The game's official tie-in manga, ''Fire Emblem if: The Crown of Nibelung'', was even classified as a ''Main/Josei'' manga there.

* FanonDiscontinuity:

* VindicatedByHistory: To reiterate what was mentioned in CriticalBacklash, ''Fire Emblem Fates'' was '''[[BrokenBase/FireEmblemFates extremely]]''' [[BrokenBase/FireEmblemFates divising]] when it first came out, having created more than its fair share of flame wars on the merits of the game's story, characters and localization, all to the point a [[VocalMinority vocal subsect of the fandom]] bashed the game on social media for up to an including ''three-to-four years,'' with ''no'' intermissions of positivity from them in-between. Ironically enough though, with ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' being released to [[WinBackTheCrowd high marks and well-appreciated within different parts of the fanbase]], it actually caused ''more'' of a positive retrospect to be had on ''Fates'', not less. There is now a large subset of the fandom that says that ''Conquest'' (with highlights including the [[ThatOneLevel infamous]] Chapter 10) had some of the best gameplay the series had ever seen due to the excellent baseline mechanics and fantastic map design. This is likewise coupled with the fact that people also began agreeing ''Fates'' had a stellar soundtrack, excellent presentation and generally well-made visual design across the board. [[NeverLiveItDown Of course]], that hasn't changed the general consensus among the fandom that the ''story'' writing was weak, but even ''then'' people have begun to lighten up on a lot of ''Fates''' cast as a whole, citing many of the best supports in the game as evidence of the characters being much better written than people initially assumed.

* CriticalBacklash: ''Fire Emblem Fates'' was highly contentious when it first came out, having created more than its fair share of flame wars on the merits of the game's story, characters and localization, all to the point a [[VocalMinority vocal subsect of the fandom]] bashed the game on social media for up to an including ''three-to-four years,'' with ''no'' intermissions of positivity from them in-between. Ironically enough though, with ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' being released to [[WinBackTheCrowd high marks and well-appreciated within different parts of the fanbase]], it actually caused ''more'' of a positive retrospect to be had on ''Fates'', not less. There is now a large subset of the fandom that says that ''Conquest'' (with highlights including the [[ThatOneLevel infamous]] Chapter 10) had some of the best gameplay the series had ever seen due to the excellent baseline mechanics and fantastic map design. This is likewise coupled with the fact that people also began agreeing ''Fates'' had a stellar soundtrack, excellent presentation and generally well-made visual design across the board. [[NeverLiveItDown Of course]], that hasn't changed the general consensus among the fandom that the ''story'' writing was weak, but even ''then'' people have begun to lighten up on a lot of ''Fates''' cast as a whole, citing many of the best supports in the game as evidence of the characters being much better written than people initially assumed. Given the extreme amount of hate the ''Conquest'' storyline gets online, many who play it after being exposed to said hate often have this reaction, feeling that while it still has its issues, it's nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be.

* VindicatedByHistory: ''Fire Emblem Fates'' was '''[[BrokenBase/FireEmblemFates highly]]''' [[BrokenBase/FireEmblemFates contentious]] when it first came out, having created more than its fair share of flame wars on the merits of the game's story, characters and localization, all to the point a [[VocalMinority vocal subsect of the fandom]] bashed the game on social media for up to an including ''three-to-four years,'' with ''no'' intermissions of positivity from them in-between. Ironically enough though, with ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' being released to [[WinBackTheCrowd high marks and well-appreciated within different parts of the fanbase]], it actually caused ''more'' of a positive retrospect to be had on ''Fates'', not less. There is now a large subset of the fandom that says that ''Conquest'' (with highlights including the [[ThatOneLevel infamous]] Chapter 10) had some of the best gameplay the series had ever seen due to the excellent baseline mechanics and fantastic map design. This is likewise coupled with the fact that people also began agreeing ''Fates'' had a stellar soundtrack, excellent presentation and generally well-made visual design across the board. [[NeverLiveItDown Of course]], that hasn't changed the general consensus among the fandom that the ''story'' writing was weak, but even ''then'' people have begun to lighten up on a lot of ''Fates''' cast as a whole, citing many of the best supports in the game as evidence of the characters being much better written than people initially assumed.

** For fans who don't care for shipping them, the explanation that Corrin [[spoiler:has no blood relation to any of the Hoshidan siblings]] according to S-Supports with them and ''Revelation''. Since the game was advertised as exploring the CentralTheme of [[spoiler:choosing between your [[NatureVersesNurture biological family or adoptive family]]]], some felt this was undermined how now [[spoiler:neither are Corrin's biological family]]. While Mikoto [[spoiler:is Corrin's birth mother, she dies before Corrin's choice and according to ''Revelation'' is not native to Hoshido, meaning Corrin cannot even be said to have a Hoshidan bloodline]].

* CommonKnowledge: It is often claimed that Takumi is the only Hoshidan not to immediately trust or like Corrin in ''Birthright'', who is otherwise LovedByAll there. While this is true if one is referring to the Hoshidan royal family or what is shown in the story, several supports show this not to be the case, with characters such as Saizo and Hana initially showing distrust or dislike for Corrin at the start of supports with them due to their upbringing in Nohr.

* CommonKnowledge: It is often claimed that Takumi is the only Hoshidan not to immediately trust or like Corrin in ''Birthright'', who is otherwise LovedByAll there. While this is true if one is referring to the Hoshidan royal family or what is shown in the story, several supports show this not to be the case, with characters such as Saizo and Hana initially showing distrust or dislike for Corrin at the start of their supports with them due to their upbringing in Nohr.

** Camilla and her subordinates are starting to look like LesYay. Camilla has a thing for strong girls and Beruka is apparently "her favorite", while the normally self-centered {{tsundere}} Selena is always super kind to her female friends, which gets mixed reactions. Considering the original Severa brought much LesYay to ''Awakening''... Additionally, Camilla's supports with a Female Avatar are ''exactly the same'' as with a Male, with her actions towards the Avatar being ''veeeery'' suspect... And Camilla's interactions with Hinoka bring the whole thing up to LesYay critical mass.

** Similarly, some fans stopped shipping Azura with the Nohr and Hoshido siblings when they found out she was raised as siblings with the Hoshidans and pre-release material hinted that the Nohr siblings were her actual genetic half-siblings. [[spoiler:This isn't true, but it still made some uncomfortable.]] Ironically enough, however, [[spoiler:it's revealed that she is actually Corrin's cousin in ''Revelations'' - Corrin and Azura's mothers were sisters - which only served to turn off even more people from the ship. Not only that, but many fans found it hypocritical for the game to seemingly go out of its way to say that Corrin's supposed blood relatives were in fact not related to allow S Supports with them, yet the story seemed to heavily favour shipping Azura with Corrin.]]

* HighTierScrappy: Even though they're genuinely liked ([[BaseBreakingCharacter for the most part]]) as characters, the royal siblings are generally regarded as [[GoneHorriblyRight too good at their jobs]]. ''Fates'' has a rather large cast (especially on ''Revelation''), and an ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. Naturally, whenever any of the siblings join, several units may wind up being benched for the simple crime of [[OvershadowedByAwesome not being able to stand up to the royals they share a potential promotion with]]. This definitely comes into play in ''Revelation'', when you get all ''eight'' of them over the course of the game, with one of the biggest complaints leveraged at ''Revelation'' at there being no reason to use any of the retainers when the royals exist and do their job better by default, which greatly annoys players who like any of the retainers. It says a lot that the siblings not mentioned below are still likely to be superior to the rest of your army, simply because they get advantages regular units can't get. For the most extreme ones though:

* CriticalBacklash: Given the extreme amount of hate the ''Conquest'' storyline gets online, many who play it after being exposed to said hate often have this reaction, feeling that while it still has its issues, it's nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be.

* VindicatedByHistory:
** ''Fire Emblem Fates'' was '''[[BrokenBase/FireEmblemFates highly]]''' [[BrokenBase/FireEmblemFates contentious]] when it first came out, having created more than its fair share of flame wars on the merits of the game's story, characters and localization, all to the point a [[VocalMinority vocal subsect of the fandom]] bashed the game on social media for up to an including ''three-to-four years,'' with ''no'' intermissions of positivity from them in-between. Ironically enough though, with ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' being released to [[WinBackTheCrowd high marks and well-appreciated within different parts of the fanbase]], it actually caused ''more'' of a positive retrospect to be had on ''Fates'', not less. There is now a large subset of the fandom that says that ''Conquest'' (with highlights including the [[ThatOneLevel infamous]] Chapter 10) had some of the best gameplay the series had ever seen due to the excellent baseline mechanics and fantastic map design. This is likewise coupled with the fact that people also began agreeing ''Fates'' had a stellar soundtrack, excellent presentation and generally well-made visual design across the board. [[NeverLiveItDown Of course]], that hasn't changed the general consensus among the fandom that the ''story'' writing was weak, but even ''then'' people have begun to lighten up on a lot of ''Fates''' cast as a whole, citing many of the best supports in the game as evidence of the characters being much better written than people initially assumed.
** In terms of classes, Kinshi Knight was seen as a relatively weak sidegrade to Falcon Knights at best, some considering it a PowerupLetdown at worst, due to the class choosing bows over the healing power of staves, and many considered its skills to be CripplingOverspecialization in taking out air units. It's been seen in a more positive light over years thanks to its use of bows in a game [[RescuedFromtheScrappyHeap where many of the bows are significantly stronger]] and in [[PlayerVsPlayer PVP]] where most {{Support Party Member}}s are fliers for mobility, making the class skills very powerful in stopping any fliers from making it into your backlines and the oppressive ability of AntiAir made even one Kinshi Knight enough to defend all your units. Its high mobility as a flier also makes it very good as an offensive powerhouse, especially if given to those promoting from Archers like [[GameBreaker Takumi]] or [[MagikarpPower Mozu]].

** Corrin usually gets this depending on the story path chosen. A Hoshido-aligned Corrin, for example, is usually called a blood-thirsty sociopath who doesn't even try to spare innocents by Nohr fans, a Nohr-aligned Corrin gets called an UngratefulBastard who has a case of StockholmSyndrome, in addition to being a prick who decided to ditch their morals by siding with an invading country while a Corrin that doesn't side with either of them deserves getting hate from both kingdoms and deceived by various people in that route. Male Corrin gets it the worst, to the point where some of his detractors pretty much pointed all the character's flaws to him, even when those flaws apply to the female version as well.

** The existence of [[spoiler:Anankos]] completes this by giving an extra trifecta to the five sacred weapons and his role with the other dragons. Takumi's weapon obviously represents Wind, while Ryoma's Raijinto is [[LightningFireJuxtaposition actually tied to Fire in Feng Shui]], while Xander's dark sword represents the winter and is tied to Water, while Leo's ability to manipulate the earth and gravity is tied to Earth. And meanwhile, at the center of it all is Yato -- and what does [[spoiler:Anankos and Valla]] represent? [[spoiler:A land below the ground and the center of the Earth, and represents the land below. [[WhamLine And then you realize Earth controls Water]]]]... then you recognize how not only is [[spoiler:Anankos represents Earth and ''is'' Kohryu]], but also makes literally all of the rest of the five elements fall into place with it as a direct result.

* GeniusBonus: If one catches the connection to the First Dragons' power in the Dragon Veins and their relation to the practice of Feng Shui, it becomes readily apparent why Azura, the Avatar, [[spoiler:Anankos, and other associates of Valla]] have such a strong water motif. One of the central ideas behind Feng Shui is that among the parts of nature making up the world, [[LifeEnergy Chi]] (analogous to Dragon Vein power) flows best in water (shui). It also ties in with why [[spoiler:Takumi is so powerful when possessed by Anankos that he becomes a FinalBoss: second to water, the next best part of nature to gather and read the flow of chi is the Fujin Yumi's element, wind (feng)]].

** Many of the game's critics have also pointed out that the curse of Valla was itself a plot device to allow an IdiotPlot, and could simply be "Beaten" by having someone reveal it, and then use their disappearance as "proof". While it is indeed a plot device, the characters have every reason ''not'' to do that since they have no real way to know just ''what'' happens ''if'' you speak of Valla.

** How are Leo and Xander convinced that something is wrong with Garon in ''Revelation?'' In the most contrived way possible; Seeing him standing up, in front of his throne, with hands raised and laughing evilly, ranting about how the war must continue until all, both Hoshido and Nohr, are reduced to nothing but dust. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Seriously.]] And Xander somehow has the gall to say they shouldn’t betray their father when Leo voices his doubts after such a ridiculously ObviouslyEvil display.
** The cutscene in ''Revelation'' where the group finally encounter [[spoiler:Anankos]] has him fire his incredibly slow-moving BreathWeapon at Xander, Ryoma and Azura. It's supposed to portray him as overwhelmingly powerful, but they could easily just move out of the way.

** [[EvilGenius Iago]], the right-hand [[TheStrategist tactician]] of King Garon of Nohr, excels at [[EvilSorcerer sorcery and illusions]]. In ''Birthright'', Iago tries to instigate a feud between Corrin and the Wind Tribe by disguising some of the tribalists as Faceless to be killed. Later, Iago cruelly attacks Flora despite being in the wrong, tries to have Corrin and their group digested alive by a resurrected Fort Dragonfall, and is implied to be behind Takumi's aggressive state. In ''Conquest'', fueled by nothing more than contempt for Corrin, Iago constantly tries to get the heroes slain, including a Faceless ambush in the Woods of the Forlorn and telling the warring Hoshidans where they'll be. In one notable instance, a Faceless tries to attack Corrin, but this results in Lilith's demise instead; Iago remarks he never liked her anyway. By the time Nohr's invasion begins, Iago worst crime is his enabling and organization of the genocidal conquest of Hoshido, personally slaughtering anyone who stands in the way of Nohr, and relishing in the violence he causes. Finally, his dislike reaches the point where he outright attacks Corrin at the end of the route in front of the Nohrian siblings, going against his own king's initial orders. [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative]] and cruel, none of the heroes approved of Iago's actions, and even the peace-loving Corrin wanted him dead.

* CompleteMonster: [[AxCrazy Hans]] is a Nohrian criminal previously arrested for murder who, after his release from prison, served as a soldier for the Nohrian army. When ordered by King Garon to test Corrin's abilities, on what was meant to be a simple recon mission, Hans murdered a Hoshidan to initiate a conflict. Despite initiating the conflict as ordered, Hans continued to try and kill more Hoshidans [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], [[DirtyCoward abandoned the group during the conflict]], and later on attacked Corrin on a bridge, needlessly trying to kill Gunter in the process. In the ''Birthright'' route, Hans gets promoted to a commander, and demands that his men fight against each other for real saying that he wants to see real blood. When he finds Corrin and the group, [[BadBoss he orders his men to throw their lives away if it means weakening Corrin]], and threatens to have King Garon kill the families of those who hesitate. In the ''Conquest'' route, when ordered to suppress a rebellion occurring in Cheve, Hans ignores the rebellion and decides to slaughter innocent villagers who took no part in it. He later gleefully kills Hoshidan prisoners who were promised to be spared if they surrendered. Hans is willing to do anything if it means he'll get ahead in life, and while he claims to kill out of loyalty for King Garon, Hans only follows Garon's orders if it means [[AmbitionIsEvil he can be rewarded for what he loves doing]].

* HighTierScrappy: Even though they're genuinely liked ([[BaseBreakingCharacter for the most part]]) as characters, '''the royal siblings''' are generally regarded as [[GoneHorriblyRight too good at their jobs]]. ''Fates'' has a rather large cast (especially on ''Revelation''), and an ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. Naturally, whenever any of the siblings join, several units may wind up being benched for the simple crime of [[OvershadowedByAwesome not being able to stand up to the royals they share a potential promotion with]]. This definitely comes into play in ''Revelation'', when you get all ''eight'' of them over the course of the game, with one of the biggest complaints leveraged at ''Revelation'' at there being no reason to use any of the retainers when the royals exist and do their job better by default, which greatly annoys players who like any of the retainers. It says a lot that the siblings not mentioned below are still likely to be superior to the rest of your army, simply because they get advantages regular units can't get. For the most extreme ones though:
** '''Takumi''' deserves special mention for this. On both the routes he is available, he is considered a GameBreaker due to a mixture of his stupidly overpowered weapon and the buffs to the Archer class bumping its usefulness up to this. He joins early as well: chapter 10 in both ''Birthright'' and ''Revelation''. He's also a BaseBreakingCharacter par excellence, with much of him completely outclassing any and all archers for his slot in ''Revelation'' being seen as even worse for it (including {{Ensemble Dark Horse}}s like Setsuna and Niles).
** '''Ryoma''' practically has no restrictions and blows every other Myrmidon[=/=]Swordmaster in the game out of the water. He's not a mounted character like Xander, but his exclusive Raijinto can be used at range, meaning magic and arrows are a joke against him. The Swordmaster class learns [[DeathByAThousandCuts Astra]], so he can attack more times than he needs to. He's still one of the strongest, fastest characters in the game, so the rest of the army might as well take a nap if he's deployed. All of this make him border on TheDreaded for players of [=StreetPass=] battles. What truly solidifies him as this is, even though he's well-liked as a character, he's exclusive to the two easier paths of the game, where you don't ''need'' such a GameBreaker.
** '''Xander's''' Siegfried has all the advantages Raijinto does on a mounted unit in addition to buffing Xander's avoid and defense. Xander himself may not be as fast as Ryoma, but he is otherwise a MasterOfAll in everything that isn't magic related, able to tank better than most tanks and hit harder than anyone not named Charlotte or Camilla. And even then, his Speed can be patched up with favoritism or a Berserker backpack, making him into an utterly horrifying LightningBruiser. Him being a mounted unit on TOP of a tank makes him effectively invalidate any Paladins and Generals as soon as you get them, which is especially grating on ''Revelation'' where there's a lot of units and a ton of competition for the slot.
** And of course, '''Camilla'''. Take everything about Xander, make it hit ''harder'', give it a class with an ability that is basically anathema to the majority of Hoshidan units (most Hoshidans don't use mounts, and the ones that do (i.e. Mechanists) tend to be less obviously threatening than Nohrian mounts despite possessing [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] versatility elsewhere, meaning Trample gives Camilla essentially a free boost to damage) and finish by making them more accurate, faster, ''and'' is a Res tank (normally the one weakness besides arrows that flying units that aren't Pegasi have) and you have Camilla. If not for Siegfried, Camilla would be better than Xander in nearly all categories. This is [[BrokenBase especially inflammatory]] due to Camilla's, ahem, [[MsFanservice provocative appearance]] and {{Yandere}} tendencies, which annoys the daylights out of less-skilled players who don't like her character but are otherwise forced to use her as a crutch in Lunatic.

* HighTierScrappy: Ryoma on the ''Birthright'' route. He joins at the beginning of the midgame with far better stats than anyone in your army and a unique weapon perfectly suited to annihilate the enemies on ''Birthright'', and reduces gameplay to "toss this one overpowered guy into the thick of it and watch him kill everything" without any real thought. Overusing him [[ItsEasySoItSucks sucks all the challenge out of battle and can very quickly result in an unsatisfactory gameplay experience]].